Chapter Four: The bracelet.

The darkness was so complete that Ava could hear her own breathing before she heard anything else.

Then Liam's hand closed around her arm and pulled her sideways, away from the table and the door, until her back met the cold wall and his body stood between her and the room.

"Don't move," he said.

"I wasn't planning to."

"Good."

The knocking came again. Three slow knocks, then a pause. It was not the knock of someone in a hurry.

Ava realized she was holding a fistful of his shirt. She could feel his heart beating beneath the fabric, steady and strong. She let go. He said nothing about it.

"Who is that?" she whispered.

"Not Grant. Grant knocks twice."

"Then who?"

"Quiet."

His mouth was close to her ear, so close that his breath moved the loose hair at her temple. On any other night she might have noticed how warm it was. Tonight she only noticed that his whole body was tense, like a man ready to fight someone he could not see.

The knocking stopped.

For five seconds, nothing happened. Ava heard the distant music from the ballroom, muffled and cheerful, as if the wedding were still going on without them.

Then a voice came through the door, calm and polite.

"Mr. Blackwood? Forgive me. There is a power fault on this floor."

"Name," Liam said.

"Daniel Reyes, hotel night manager."

"I don't know a Daniel Reyes."

"I started last week, sir."

Liam's hand moved to Ava's shoulder and pressed her gently against the wall. "Stay here."

"Liam, don't open it."

He paused. It was the first time she had said his name.

"I'm not going to," he said quietly. Then, louder, toward the door, "Slide your ID under the door."

No answer.

"Daniel?"

Footsteps moved away down the corridor, quick and light. Then a second set came running from the other direction.

"Sir! Mr. Blackwood!"

Liam let out a slow breath. "That one is Grant."

He unlocked the door. A flashlight beam swung into the room and landed on Ava's face. She raised her hand against it. Behind the light stood a broad man in a dark suit with an earpiece and sweat on his forehead.

"Grant Hale," Liam said. "Report."

"Someone cut the power to the whole executive floor. The backup generator kicked in, but the cameras are down." Grant's eyes flicked to Ava, then back to Liam. "And the guard at the service entrance is unconscious. Somebody hit him from behind."

Ava's stomach dropped. "The service entrance. Where Clara..."

"Yes," Liam said.

The lights flickered back on. Ava blinked at the sudden brightness. The private room looked exactly the same as before. The contract still lay on the table, her signature beside his. But something in her chest had changed. Someone had walked through this hotel tonight like they owned it, and they had known exactly which door to knock on.

"Who is Daniel Reyes?" Liam asked.

Grant frowned. "There's no night manager by that name."

"Find him."

"Already moving, sir." Grant hesitated. "There's something else. Miss Vale arrived five minutes ago. She is asking for you."

Liam's face hardened. "Tell her I'm busy."

"She said you would say that." Grant lowered his voice. "She also said to tell you that she knows about the wedding."

"Everyone knows about the wedding."

"She said she knows who the bride is."

The silence that followed was heavy enough to hear.

Ava looked at Liam. "Who is Miss Vale?"

He did not answer immediately. He picked up the contract, folded it once, and slid it inside his jacket.

"Serena Vale. Her father chairs the Blackwood board."

"And?"

"And for two years the board has wanted me to marry her instead."

"So she hates me."

"She hates Clara."

"I'm wearing Clara's dress."

The corner of his mouth almost moved. "You're wearing it badly."

"Thank you. That helps."

Grant coughed politely and looked at the ceiling.

A woman's voice cut through the corridor before Liam could speak again. "There you are, darling. I was beginning to think you had run away with your bride."

Serena Vale walked into the room as if it belonged to her. She was tall, in a red silk gown, with her dark hair pinned perfectly in place, and she smelled of expensive roses. Her smile was wide and beautiful, and it did not touch her eyes.

She looked Ava over from head to toe. It was a slow look, the kind a buyer gives a damaged piece of furniture.

"Clara," she said sweetly. "You look exhausted."

"It was a long day," Ava replied.

"I'm sure it was." Serena tilted her head. "Funny. Clara's voice is deeper."

Ava kept her face still, but her fingers tightened around the bouquet she had forgotten she was holding.

"Serena," Liam said. "Leave."

"Not yet. I came to give your wife a wedding present."

She opened her small clutch bag and took out something that caught the light.

A silver bracelet.

Ava stopped breathing.

It was Clara's bracelet. The same thin chain, the same tiny broken star hanging from the clasp. Clara had worn it every day since their grandmother gave it to her.

"Where did you get that?" Ava said before she could stop herself.

Serena's smile grew slowly. "So you do know it."

Liam stepped in front of Ava. "Where did you find it?"

"On the floor outside the service entrance." Serena let the bracelet swing from her finger. "I walked past it on my way in. Strange place for a bride's jewelry, don't you think?"

"You were at the service entrance," Liam said flatly.

"I like to arrive quietly."

"Give it to me."

"Of course." She dropped it into his palm. "But I wonder, Liam, why your bride would leave without her only keepsake and then come back looking so different."

Ava's heart pounded against her ribs. Serena had not said the words, but she had put them close enough to touch.

Grant shifted. "Miss Vale, with respect, this is a private..."

"Everything in this family is private until it isn't." Serena's eyes stayed on Ava. "I think the board would like to hear that Mr. Blackwood married a woman with a different face."

"They won't," Liam said.

"No?"

"Because if they do, I will ask them why you were behind my building tonight with an unconscious guard."

Serena's smile finally flickered. Only for a moment, but Ava saw it. It was the smile of someone who had walked into a trap she had not expected to be set for her.

"Be careful, Liam," she said softly. "Threats are easy. Proof is harder."

"I'm very good at proof."

The two of them stared at each other like people who had been fighting a quiet war for years. Ava felt as if she had walked into the middle of it without a weapon.

Then Ava's phone buzzed in her dress pocket.

Everyone looked at her.

She took it out slowly. Clara's number again. This time the message stayed on the screen.

Don't trust the bracelet. Don't trust Serena. And don't tell Liam what I told you.

Ava's eyes lifted to Liam. He was watching her. He knew. She could see it in the way his eyes narrowed and his hand tightened around the silver chain.

"What does it say?" he asked quietly.

Ava closed the screen. "It says my sister is alive."

It was a lie, and she knew it was a bad one. But she could not tell him the rest. Not with Serena standing there smiling. Not before she understood why Clara would warn her about the one man who had promised to save her mother.

Serena turned toward the door. "I'll leave you two to your honeymoon." She paused. "Oh, and Liam? Your uncle sends his love."

She walked out.

Grant's earpiece crackled. He listened, and his face changed.

"Sir. Someone is at the lobby entrance asking for Miss Hart."

"Which Miss Hart?"

"The older one's father."

Ava's blood ran cold.

The door swung open before anyone could speak.

Her father stood there, breathing hard, his coat torn at the shoulder and his right hand wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. Under his left arm he carried a black folder, the same one Clara had held in the photograph.

His eyes went straight to Liam.

"Give me my daughter," he said hoarsely.

"Dad," Ava whispered. "What happened to your hand?"

He did not look at her. He lifted the black folder like a weapon.

"Clara is dead," he said. "And he is the reason."